The owner of a Dallas company who was part of a nearly $400 million home health care scam was sentenced Tuesday to 17 and a half years in federal prison, the U.S. attorney's office said.

In April 2016, a jury found Wilbert James Veasey Jr., 65, of Dallas guilty of playing a role in the massive home health care fraud conspiracy led by Dr. Jacques Roy, 59, of Rockwall.

This is a February 2012 booking photo of Wilbert Veasey Jr.

(U.S. Marshals Service)

U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay also ordered Veasey to pay $23.1 million in restitution to Medicare and $506,880 in restitution to Medicaid.

Veasey has been in custody since February 2016 after violating his conditions of release.

Roy is scheduled to be sentenced in August. He has lost his medical license and could face more than 80 years in prison.

The case was notable for being what officials called the nation's largest home health care fraud involving a single doctor. Authorities said Roy and his associates recruited fake patients — including some of Dallas' homeless — to submit the bogus health care claims.

Also convicted of conspiracy to commit health care fraud during the six-week trial were Cynthia Stiger, 54, of Dallas, and Charity Eleda, 56, of Rowlett.

Three others have pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme.

Eleda, a nurse and co-owner of Charry Home Care, paid recruiters $50 to walk into The Bridge homeless shelter in Dallas and promised free meals to get recruits, records show. She would "buy them McDonald's and send them on their way," prosecutors said.

Roy didn't sign medical documents for his patients, prosecutors said during the trial. He set up a full-time forgery operation in which people were hired to sign his name. Nurses falsified medical documents to make it seem like patients qualified for home health care services when they did not, prosecutors said.

Roy would visit the patients and order unnecessary medical services, which were billed to Medicare.

The investigation of Roy began after investigators ran a data analysis and noticed that he had submitted about 11,000 Medicare claims — the most in the nation for home health services, according to trial testimony.

One government witness said it's typical for physicians to refer fewer than 100 patients for home health services.